Screw with movable handle which is held in position by spring means



July 9, 1957 J. H. SCHAEFER ET AL 2,7 8,

. SCREW WITH MOVABLE HANDLE wHIcH 1s HELD IN POSITION BY SPRING MEANS Filed June 18, 1953 United States Patent SCREW WITH MOVABLE HANDLE WHICH IS HELD IN POSITION BY SPRING MEANS James H. Schaefer, Lemont, and Harry P. Kemmer, Hillside, Ill., assignors to Amphenol Electronics Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Application June 18, 1953, Serial No. 362,499

1 Claim. (Cl. 85-9) so designed as to be held erect for easy access when in use, so that it may be easily grasped for tightening or loosening the. screw, yet arranged to hold itself in retracted position and flat alongside the screw head when not in use. Thus, when not in use, the handlewill not project. substantially beyond the head of the screw, and a screw of this type may therefore be successfully used in connection with apparatus wherein the clearance above the screw heads is extremely limited.

1 It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a thumbscrew having a shiftable handle and a spring detent adapted to hold the handle either flat with the head or in erect position, wherein the entire assembly is extremely simple, yet compact and strong.

A further object of the invention is to provide a handle detent assembly wherein a perfectly flat handle may be utilized and pivoted so close to the end of the screw head as to permit the screw to be designed with the projecting portion of its head of unusually thin and flat configuration, so that the total projection of the screw and handle in retracted position may be scarcely more than the thickness of the handle itself.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a thumbscrew having a shiftable handle and spring detent therefor, wherein the spring is arranged to hold the handle upright or in either of two alternative flush positions, yet wherein the mechanical construction of the assembly is unusually simple and includes only one part in addition to the screw and its handle.

A further object is to provide a handle detent assembly for a thumbscrew wherein the parts are so designed and so related as to be easily and economically manufactured by conventional screw machine and punch press operations, so that a high quality product may be produced by mass production methods, and consequently at a relatively low manufacturing cost.

A further object of the invention is to provide a spring detent mechanism for the handle of a thumbscrew, wherein the coacting parts are so related as to be freely shiftable with respect to each other, yet self-retaining when positioned in either upright or flush position by a spring action which is free acting yet positive. In other words, it is an object to provide a spring detent of such design that the handle will snap to its vertical or flush positions, and will be held in either selected position without looseness, play, wobble or rattle.

The foregoing objects are accomplished according to the present invention by a screw and handle assembly comprising the novel arrangement of coacting parts illustrated in the drawings of the present specification, wherein:

2,798,404 Patented July 9, 1957 Figure 1 is a perspective. view of a present preferred commercial embodiment of the invention,v showing a typical thumbscrew and handle. illustrated with the handle in erect position with respect to the screw;

Figure. 2 is a. sectional view through the head portion of the screw illustrated in Figure 1, showing the internal constructionthereof and. showing the parts in the relative positions which. they assume with respect tocoacting parts with which the screw is designed to be used. In this figure the handle portion of the screw is illustrated in one retracted position in solid lines, with its other positions shown by dotted line indication;

Figure 3 is. an end elevational view of the head end of the screw, showing the handle in retracted position;

Figure 4 is a detail plan view of the sheet metal handle employed in the assembly; and

Figure. 5 is a detail perspective view of the detent spring.

The principal novelty of the present disclosure resides in the. handle, detent assembly. This assembly may be utilized with many and various types of thumbscrews, wing nuts,'etc.,. but for purposes of illustration, it has been. illustrated in the present drawings with a typical thumbscrew having a central body portion 10, with a threaded portion 11 at one end and a relatively 'thin flat head portion 12' at the other end. The head portion, as: shown, is provided with an annular shoulder 13. It

. is. contemplated that the shoulder 13 may be recessed in theassembly for which the screw is designed (Figure 2),. so that only the relatively thin fiat head portion 12 projects. above. the face portion 14 of the member 15 to which the screw is secured. As illustrated, the screw is provided with annular grooves to accommodate a spring retaining washer 16 and a sealing ring 17, although these features are by no means essential to the practice of the invention.

The present disclosure contemplates the combination of a single, simple, flat sheet metal handle portion 18 (Figure 4) with the flat disc spring 19 (Figure 5) both held in permanently assembly relationship with the head portion 12 of the screw. The handle 18 may be a simple stamping formed of sheet metal of uniform thickness throughout and provided with a somewhat semicircular aperture 20 spaced from the edge of the stamping and defining a mounting shank 21. The aperture 20 is adapted to clear the head of the screw when the shank 21 is seated in the transverse groove 22 extending across the screw head (Figure 2), so that the handle may be folded down to the retracted position B illustrated in solid lines. The shank 21 is preferably substantially square in cross section and is resiliently held in the transverse groove 22 by the flat disc spring 19. The spring 19 (Figure 5) is generally circular in shape, but is provided with a pair of projecting tabs 23 dimensioned to be received in the opposite ends of the groove 22 (Figure 3), with a second pair of tabs 24 somewhat wider than the tabs 23 but projecting a lesser distance from the circular edge 25 of the disc, so that the tabs 24 may be engaged and held by a spun-over edge on the marginal flange 26 extending around the periphery of the head of the screw.

With the parts assembled as shown, the spring disc 19 may bear against the flat sides or inner flat surface of the shank 21, so that the spring holds the flat handle portion 18 in securely assembled relationship with the head of the screw, yet permits it to be manually snapped between any of the three positions A, B and C illustrated in Figure 2. The square cross section of the shank portion 21 of the handle coacts with the bottom of the slot 22 and the under side of the spring disc to act as an effective spring detent, effective to hold the handle in either the upright position A, or either of the two flush retracted positions B and C. When in the upright or erect position A, the tension of the spring disc upon the cross member 21 assures positive wobble-free positioning of the handle. Similarly, when in either of the flush positions B or C, the tension exerted by the spring 19 will hold the handle in true flush relationship with the head portion 12 of the screw, and may be utilized to hold the handle in flat surface-to-surface contact with the outer face 14 of the mounting member 15.

The assembly consists of only three pieces. The handle and spring are simple, flat sheet metal stampings, and the screw itself is a conventional screw machine part. It follows that the entire assembly may be manufactured by automatic, high production machinery, and may consequently be produced at a comparatively low cost. Notwithstanding this, the item is a quality product which is unusually convenient and dependable in performance, notwithstanding its relatively simple mechanical construction.

, It is also to be noted that the parts are so designed that they cannot easily be jammed or otherwise adversely affected by rust, corrosion or accumulation of dust. The parts cannot accidentally become disassembled, since they are positively locked into proper operating relationships by the deformable flange of the screw, and they are not easily affected by water, ice, snow, or other unfavorable conditions of climate or atmosphere. It follows that the product is simple, inexpensive, and easy to manufacture, yet it is unusually rugged and dependable in use. In

short, it is a' simple, inexpensive article, yet capable of A handle detent assembly for thumbscrews and the like comprising, in combination, a head portion of relatively thin, flat, circular shape having a flat bottomed slot extending diametrically thereacross and an upright marginal flange extending around the periphery of said head portion; a handle comprising a single fiat sheet metal stamping of uniform thickness throughout having a semicircular cutaway portion adapted to clear and encircle a peripheral edge of said circular head portion, and a mounting shank consisting of a cross member of generally square cross section seated in the transverse slot of the aforementioned head portion; a detent spring comprising a generally circular, flat sheet metal disc of size and shape generally conforming with the marginal flange around said circular head portion and positioned within said flange and in flush relationship with said head portion; said spring disc having its center portion adapted to lie flat against a surface of the shank portion of the handle, with one pair' of diametrically opposed tabs"on said spring disc positioned within the slot in the head portion and a second pair of tabs at right angles thereto positioned within the marginal flange of said head portion; with an inwardly overhanging edge on said marginal flange overlying said second pair of tabs and holding said spring and handle in assembled relation with respect to said head portion. v

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 933,831 Steiger Sept. 14, 1909 1,269,194 King June 11, 1918 2,115,179 Ross Apr. 26, 1938 v FOREIGN PATENTS 263,472 Great Britain Dec. 30,1926 

